Press Release | Kaveri Water Issue

The Supreme Court has given its’s verdict over the sharing of Kaveri between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and directed the Karnataka government to release forthwith 15000 cusecs of water every day for ten days to Tamil Nadu. This verdict has created tremendous tension in Karnataka and resulted in continuous protests throughout the state for the last 10 days, causing enormous hardship among the people and has disrupted normal life throughout the state. Under these circumstances, the Karnataka government filed a petition before the same bench on Monday 12th Sept, requesting the court to review its verdict. It has been reported that the bench summarily refused to hear the submission made by Karnataka. This latest order has further aggravated the situation, turning it from bad to worse in the state. The peaceful protest has turned into violence, resulted in the killing of two innocent persons in police firing, and also causing a lot of damage to vehicles and property. The situation in the southern region of Karnataka is quite grave, and normal life has been thrown out of gear.
In the light of the above, PUCL – Karnataka proposes the following steps to defuse the situation:
1. With regard to the sharing of water, the state government should constitute a committee with experts to look into and recommend possible scientific solutions, and the court should monitor the implementation of the recommendation.
2. There should be long-term policy guidelines with regard to selecting of cropping patterns in the Kaveri basin, subject to the availability of quantum of water, both in normal and crisis situations, thereby preventing such crisis situations getting out of hand.
3. With regard to the decision on sharing of water at times of acute water scarcity, the two governments should constitute a committee with farmers living in Kaveri basin from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and urge them to deliberate on proposals / solutions, based on which decisions can be taken by the respective governments
4. In order to defuse the current tensions prevailing in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the two Chief Ministers should set aside their political calculations, and meet immediately and take a courageous decision on amicably sharing the water at this time of crisis in order to restore normalcy in their respective states.
5. The media in both the states should show due restraint in reporting incidents of unrest, and should make clear that linguistic minorities from either state are not in any way responsible for the conflict, and the resultant violence.
The government of Karnataka has so far taken concrete steps to protect the linguistic minorities in the state, barring two incidents of killing in police firing. The protection of lives and properties should be a priority issue for both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments.

PUCL draws the attention of the two governments to how a similar incident over Kaveri issue two decades ago resulted in horrific violence. Accordingly, we urge the constitutionally established authorities, including the central government, the two state governments, and the Judiciary to exercise their constitutional authority with sensitivity and caution and arrive at a permanent solution to this issue.